Morocco World News
New York, September 13, 2012
After the disastrous defeat of Morocco in Mozambique this past Sunday, Moroccan fans were hoping to see the Moroccan Football Federation dismiss Eric Gerets. But to their dismay, Mr. Ali Fassi Fihri still believes in the magic powers of this “world-class” coach and his ability to qualify the Moroccans to the African Cup of Nations scheduled to be held in South Africa in early 2013 and maybe even to win it.
In addition, there were pervasive rumors about the decision allegedly made by Gerets to resign from his position. But with the backing of the Fihri and his acolytes, who persist contemptuously in ignoring the grievances of Moroccan fans, Eric Gerets still cherish the hope of staying at the helm of the national team and sticking to the fat salary he earns every month. This time around, he found a new alibi to justify the disgrace he brought upon Moroccans this past weekend.
Eric Gerets blames his incompetency in building a competitive national team in the “lack of aggressiveness” of Moroccan players who play in different European national leagues. According to a report, cited by the sports news website Koora.com, he blames the poor performance of his team to a lack of enthusiasm of those players.
While the overwhelming majority of Moroccans, be they lay men and women or sports observers, are unanimous in pointing to the failure of the Belgian coach in putting together a strong team, he persists in refusing to admit his inability to lead a team with as many talented players as the Moroccan team has.
Since he was hired by the Moroccan Royal Federation of Football, the one who is considered the worst and most expensive coach in Morocco’s history, made it a habit to call up players who were not fit to play for the national team, to exclude others who were at the top of their shape and to make unwarranted and untimely changes during the matches.
In more than 2 years, he tried more than 80 players, including those playing in the Moroccan league and those who play in Europe and in the Gulf. After having tried this staggering number of players, he still has not been able to put together a harmonious and stable team. He never plays two successive matches with the same players, coming up every time with changes that leave the Moroccan public speechless.
For instance, during the African Cup of Nations, held in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea last winter, in which the Moroccans were eliminated in the first round, he called up the defender Ahmad Kantari, who had just came back from an injury which left him inactive for almost a year. In spite of his lack of competition and the calls made by the public to count on more competitive players, Gerets persisted in relying on Kantari during the African Cup. As a result, Moroccan defense looked very weak and almost all the goals conceded by the Moroccan team were caused by this player.
It is worthy to note that, since he took over as the coach of the national team A, the “Atlas Lions” played 19 games; they lost eight games (Algeria, Senegal, Guinea, Gabon, Tunisia, Ouganda, Cameroun, Mozambique), won 6 games (Niger twice, Algeria, Tanzania twice, and Senegal) and draw in five games (Northern Island, Central Africa twice, Gambia, Ivory Coast).
After two years of leading the Moroccan team, Eric Gerets’ mismanagement has culminated in an ill-formed national team yielding negative scores and bearing a negative connotation on Morocco’s sports reputation.
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